Never underestimate the firepower of any mech,including light/A. Even a heavy/C class should keep moving as much as possible. Due to prejudice reasons and experience in other mech games, I used to stand still in my games if I ran into a light mech just to make aiming easier thinking (Hah, puny light mech what could you possibly OH GOD!!!) [DDwarrior]

Refer to the notes section above for units, etc

Common Stats

Heal Rate: 35 health per second [DarkPulse]

Heal Startup Delay: 2 seconds [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Distance: 900 UU [DarkPulse]

Air Speed: 700 UU [DarkPulse]

Max Thruster Energy: 9 Units [DarkPulse]

Thruster Jump Energy: 1 Unit/use [DarkPulse]

Thruster Side Boost Energy: 2.25 Units/use [DarkPulse]

A-Class
Class Specs

Armor: 500

Energy Unit Capacity: 150

Walking Speed: 600 UU [DarkPulse]

Running Speed: 850 UU

Walk to Run Time: 1.5 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Acceleration Rate: 800 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Speed: 2300 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Delay: 1.25 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Forward Boost Speed: 1800 UU/second [DarkPulse]

Landing Delay: 0.55 seconds [DarkPulse]

Thruster Regen: 0.9 units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Hovering Rate: 1.6 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Forward Boost Rate: 1.8 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Bump Damage Factor: 80% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Falling Damage Multiplier: 120% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Eye Height: 95 UU [DarkPulse]

IMO, this is your fast attack class, kinda like a scout. Since A-class mechs are faster than the others, they are good at hit and run attacks, but the low armor means that you have to repair a lot. Regardless, you can run rings around heavier, less mobile mechs (C-Class) [ArnieF4440]

Berserker
[placeholder]

Infiltrator

I’m a fan of the Heat Cannon, Grenade launcher combo. When fully charged, the heat cannon packs a huge punch, but when you use it in combo with the grenade launcher it is really effective. My preferred way of using this is to fully charge the heat cannon, and fire both simultaneously. This works especially well with side boosting between cover when attacking/defending the AA site in Siege mode. [ArnieF4440]

Infiltrator is actually more about stealth and cunning than sheer speed. (If you want speed, play scout.) Because you cannot outrace your enemy in infiltrator, you must outfox him. HEAT+GL is particularly good for this, because both weapons don’t need line of sight. In fact, if you’re savvy, you can kill an opponent without them ever seeing you, by virtue of GL geometry and bouncing grenades, paired with splashing HEAT aoe around corners. It is, by far, the most challenging and rewarding A Mech to play. Charging HEAT becomes a non-issue when you strafe in and out of cover, so it’s safe to say infiltrators sneak in and out of fights from the flank, and don’t charge headfirst into the fray. Even your special ability masks you from radar (and some graphics cards), and your small hit box makes you a perfect hit and run guerilla machine. You are an ambush predator, not an open terrain duelist. Unless you’re extremely skilled with infiltrator, leave the dueling to the classes optimized for it.[Conquistador]

If you haven’t noticed, I don`t recommend AR on the Infiltrator. If you run Assault Rifle, you essentially become a weaker Berserker in sustained-fire combat, minus the nifty damage boost ability that makes the Berserker such a good open-terrain duelist. Swap to HEAT as soon as humanly possible.[Conquistador]

EOC Infiltrator:
This primary fills a very specific niche for the infil. I play EOC Repeater on infiltrator like I’m using a HEAT cannon with no splash, and favor stealthy flank attacks with that weapon. You’re a less effective dueler, but a much better assassin. EOC infils are by far the deadliest ambush predators in the game, able to instagib light classes and damaged b mechs with a combination of the stealth ability, a fully charged eoc, gl, and he-grenade. This combination likewise punishes enemies who repair too close to the battlefield, because if they aren’t moving, they can’t dodge the EOC. Kick them while they’re down, sport! [Conquistador]

Scout

You are the fastest, most mobile class in the game, and your ability lets you dodge, boost, or fly much longer than other mechs. Use this unparalleled mobility to boost behind Heavy mechs, and close to CQC where the power of your flak cannon really shines through. The power of the scout lies in “peakaboo”, so make sure you keep yourself situationally aware of the closest piece of cover to duck behind. Oh, and run detonator. Detonator is a natural ally of the scout’s TOW. [Conquistador]

Flak Scout:
In a variant of “blitzing”, when using FLAK to fight other TOW-equipped light mechs, the “facehugger” strategy becomes extremely useful. Stagger your weapons fire so that you fire your TOW at your opponent while you’re out of the AOE range of your own rocket, then immediately close to point-blank. Your FLAK cannon has the highest burst in the game, and you can safely outdamage your enemy while he uses his primary to chip away at you. If your enemy makes the incorrect choice to fire a TOW or other explosive at you pointblank, punish him for it by making him eat his own explosion. This strategy will almost guarantee you a win against other A class mechs (and even the reaper or another scout , provided you get the first shot in). Your mileage may vary using this tactic against B and C classes, simply because they have more HP than you do.[Conquistador]

HEAT Scout:
I’m partial to this combination, and even I admit it may be “too good”. The HEAT naturally complements the TOW because both weapons are projectiles and travel straight towards their targets. The HEAT travels faster than the TOW, so at long range, learn to time your shots so that your TOW and charged HEAT connect at approximately the same time (or in quick succession), which can provide enough combined force to knock sharpshooters off their perches (or even juggle enemies in place, which is still useful but not as severe with the stunlock nerf). At close range, only fire your weapons together when in an open terrain situation, where DPS matters.Certain forms of cover complement the HEAT+TOW combo extremely well, such as the missile silo. When in CQC you can use the splash of both weapons to hit an enemy (on the other side of the silo) without ever exposing yourself. Simply splash the floor around the silo past corner nearest the enemy with the weapon matching that corner (i.e. HEAT when firing past the left corner, TOW when firing past the right corner).[Conquistador]

Reaper
[placeholder]

B-Class
Class Specs

Armor: 675

Energy Unit Capacity: 200

Walking Speed: 525 UU [DarkPulse]

Running Speed: 750 UU

Walk to Run Time: 1.8 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Acceleration Rate: 600 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Speed: 2100 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Delay: 1.5 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Forward Boost Speed: 1600 UU/second [DarkPulse]

Landing Delay: 0.75 seconds [DarkPulse]

Thruster Regen: 0.85 units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Hovering Rate: 1.675 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Forward Boost Rate: 1.6 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Bump Damage Factor: 100% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Falling Damage Multiplier: 150% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Eye Height: 105 UU [DarkPulse]

Assault
[placeholder]

Recruit Assault

Similar to the assault, it just has rookie internals + Fred skin and different weapon loadouts. Does get a health advantage over the Assault though [ArnieF4440]

Sharpshooter
[placeholder]

Bruiser
[placeholder]

Raider
[placeholder]

C-Class
Class Specs

Armor: 850

Energy Capacity: 250

Walking Speed: 450 UU [DarkPulse]

Running Speed: 650 UU

Walk to Run Time: 2 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Acceleration Rate: 550 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Speed: 1900 UU [DarkPulse]

Side Dodge Delay: 1.75 Seconds [DarkPulse]

Forward Boost Speed: 1500 UU [DarkPulse]

Landing Delay: 0.95 seconds [DarkPulse]

Thruster Regen: 0.8 units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Hovering Rate: 1.75 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Thruster Forward Boost Rate: 1.4 Units/second [DarkPulse]

Bump Damage Factor: 120% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Falling Damage Multiplier: 200% of Normal [DarkPulse]

Eye Height: 110 UU [DarkPulse]

Rocketeer
[placeholder]

Brawler
[placeholder]

Grenadier

If ever you feel the Rev-GL would let you down when you first buy this thing, well don’t be!!! It has powerful damage which combines rate of fire and splash damage. if you ask me, the other alt primaries don’t work out for this mech. [CaptainCiboulette]

Try to ambush than confronting others in a duel. You’ll need to rack up your shots more securely to increase your survivability. [CaptainCiboulette]

Use the turret ability when holding a critical point. it Increases the damage your already high damage weapons and reduces the damage you take. works better if you’re backed up. [CaptainCiboulette]

try taking on enemies in a closed space. Both grenades would often ricochet from the walls, Just be careful of your own grenades jumping back to you because its can hurt you. [CaptainCiboulette]

When starting out with the Grenadier and don’t have enough money to buy more useful items, try using the HE Charge to ambush enemies. Normally, if you hurl all three weapons simultaneously to an unsuspecting target, they’ll get blown up immediately. [CaptainCiboulette]

When in a firefight, try to reverse when lobbing grenades to your target, so you cannot hurt yourself with your own weapons. [CaptainCiboulette]

When dealing with High Speed Class A mechs, try to lob your Grenade Launcher spikeballs on his sides rather directly. Your target might dodge on the path of the spikeball, or you can detonate it yourself to deal splash damage. [CaptainCiboulette]

Lastly, relax and sit tight on tough situations, you’ll need to take aim rather than dodge hopelessly since you are a big target for sub-weapons [CaptainCiboulette]

Grenadiers are more suited on support roles rather than direct combat due to their tricky weapon loadout. [CaptainCiboulette]

Vanguard Cupcake

It’s a Vanguard Initiative exclusive mech.

Gameplay and Tactics

USE VOICE CHAT — It’s too valuable of a tool not to use…teams require team work.[cunningStunts]

Always be aware of your fuel and mech heat! [cunningStunts]

Always watch your radar, especially if you’re taking on more than one player by your self. Radar is an invaluable tool just like voice chat.[cunningStunts]

Fake retreat. Almost every time if you retreat with considerably low health someone will follow you, crazy to score an easy kill. Retreat, 180° and wait to ambush this guy. (team play would, of course, serve a bigger, better, therefore deadlier ambush) [SirMilagres]

Repair orbs. I find myself in games with repair orbs literally all over the bloody battlefield.Those little health pickups will make all the difference in a fight. Pursuing someone? Repair orb on the way? Get on it. Basically where you take cover and the angles you pursue or flee should really revolve around the placement of these things. In constant ongoing melees, especially with classes like the Brawler, you want to stay in the bloody fight. And you can sometimes really surprise someone who thinks you are almost done for but bam, suddenly half your health is back. [Dreizehn]

Placing a Hologram on top of a turret is a pretty cool tactic I’ve seen people using. Its a great distraction that can confuse players since the turret shoots at you [ArnieF4440]

Avoiding fire from flying mechs – get under em. You don’t have the range of movement to shoot directly below if you’re flying [ArnieF4440]

Stick and move!
Dont just stay in the same area and fight. Hit a guy for a bit, get the kill if you can and then boost outta the area. Heal if neccessary and get back at it.
I regularly go through TDM and Seige maps without getting more than a couple deaths with this tactic and a ton of kills. Be patient, sneak up on guys. STICK AND MOVE!![Recoil514]

Mech Movement

Boost strafing around cover is extremely useful. This works well when defending/attacking the AA if you boost strafe out of cover, unload all weapons, strafe back, repeat … [ArnieF4440]

you can use the repair option to put yourself into 3rd person view for a few moments…useful for looking over walls, around corners etc. The trade-off is that you are extremely vulnerable during that time. (not sure how I feel about this, it seems a bit “exploity”, but then again you are a sitting duck so it seems to be a fair trade off) [SystemiK]

Don’t boost everywhere! [Roundlay] Its a waste of fuel that could be necessary in a pinch [ArnieF4440, amend]

You take on fall damage when you fall from large heights. To avoid fall damage, just hit jump a moment before you hit the ground, that way you don’t waste your fuel and you have a quicker fall. (Video) [ArnieF4440]

Regarding the Side dash. Currently all mechs after a side dash lose there top walking speed. This could change if they decide mechs maintain there top walking speed even after a dash, though I currently doubt this due to the speed optimization for acceleration. [DDwarrior].

Do not hug walls. Hugging a corner means that the enemy can see and hurt you without you being able to do either. Keep around a mech length away from the corner to maximize visibility and lines of sight/cover.[D20Face]

Managing the 180deg boost (Shift+S) [Question by Xyzz]

Avoid hitting Shift+S completely, does take a bit of playing and practice to get rid of [ArnieF4440]

Hit Shift+S again and duke it out [ArnieF4440]

i just forwards (or any other direction) boost and run away to cover for until I can properly turn around and re-acquire my aim, etc. [ArnieF4440]

If you have the shield item, you can fire it in front of you and run through it to cover your back from a bit of the fire. That’ll give you a bit if time to recompose yourself, etc [ArnieF4440]

I find that treating boost+direction as a distinct key-press helps me stay precise. I.e., think of all the boosting activities as “Shift+Key” rather than thinking of Shift as a way to turn your strafe into a side boost. The only really dangerous time is when you’re backing up and thinking about side boosting as well, since you might be pressing S and A/D at the same time. [Thrull]

I would definitely not disable it. Hawken mechs have limited turning ratios — there is a cap to turning speed and it is quite low compared to the speed of your mouse, which means that it is ALWAYS faster to perform a 180 speedy turn if you know you’ll end up facing the direction you need. It also costs no fuel. I’ve found 180 -> boost forward -> 180 to be one of the safest and quickest ways to retreat while threatening pursuers.[Thrull]

Always move forward. The number of situations where going backwards is the best option are few and far between. It’d be a slow retreat. The only thing it’s decent for is aim adjustment and that’s only for super distance shots. [D20Face]

If you find yourself needing to retreat then 9/10 times you’re better off just dropping a shield and laying into the enemy from where you are. If you retreat, commit to the retreat. Turn around and boost away. [D20Face]

When you’re repairing your mech, you can start the repair a bit quicker by having the orientation of your legs and your upper body the same. When you go into the repair sequence, your mech orients its legs to be parallel with your body so it can “crouch” and repair [ArnieF4440]

You can escape out of repair mode a little quicker by strafe boosting. If not, it’ll at least throw your enemy’s aim off a bit [ArnieF4440]

Side boost have cool down, but that does not mean you’re a sitting duck. You can still forward boost anywhere you want, immediately after a side boost. You could zig zag, like side boost >> turn your mouse the way you came >> forward boost back to it. The enemy, usually, expect you to NOT being able to dash after your side boost. Surprise them [SirMilagres]

Dodging then hovering will cover more horizontal space where as moving forward and boost jumping gives you more vertical travel.[ScHizNiK]

Dashing, makes you stand out like a sore thumb on the radar. If anybody’s nearby, it’s an invitation to a fight. If they are in a group, it’s an invitation to carve your turkey ass open. This often isn’t a problem in Siege or Missile Assault, the sides of the map are clearly defined and bee-lining for the objectives is what you should do. And it’s unlikely that you’re alerting your enemies to spring an ambush on you. [Dreizehn]

There isn’t much of a point using boosters and hovering every time you get into an engagement. You make yourself one hell of a target that is easy to avoid or shoot [ArnieF4440 & Womb]

There are several major reasons you should never hover except in very specific circumstances. First of all, when you hover, you cannot dodge. You may be able to confuse new players, but an experienced player will just dodge under you and line up a shot. Even if they don’t manage to kill you, when you land you will be low on fuel. Again your opponent will be able to dodge, while you cannot. Finally, even if you manage to finish someone off, you’ll then be stuck with whatever health you had at the end of the fight, and no fuel. The next guy around the corner is going to finish you off easily.Conserve your fuel. The only time I ever hover is to very briefly poke up over cover to make a killing shot on a weak enemy. In pretty much every other circumstance, you’re better off having saved the fuel. [maschas]